Investigator Reveals What William And Harry Wanted To Know After Princess Diana's Death
We're approaching the sad anniversary of the death of Princess Diana; on August 31, 2022, it will be 25 years since the mother of two died after a car crash in a tunnel in Paris. Princess Diana has remained a figure of interest in the decades after her tragic death, inspiring everything from a Broadway musical about her life to a new HBO documentary. Her children — Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex — have spoken on occasion about the unquestionably deep impact their mother's life and death have had on them.
Prince Harry told Hoda Kotb on "Today" how he's been feeling the presence of his mother "more so than ever before" in the last two years. He would seem to be referring to the two years since he and his wife Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, officially stepped away from royal engagements.
Of his mother's death, Prince William told GQ, "I feel the trauma of that day has lived with me for 20 years, like a weight [...] Believe me, at times it has felt like it would break me, but I have felt I have learned to manage it and I've talked about it."
New details have come out about Princess Diana's life since her passing. And now there's more information about Prince William and Prince Harry as they learned about their mom's passing.
Prince William and Prince Harry met privately with the investigator of their mother's death
In 2004, John Stevens was the Metropolitan Police commissioner who the royal coroner Michael Burgess asked to "make inquiries" into the circumstances of Princess Diana's death, per The New York Times. That kicked off what became known as Operation Paget, which resulted in an 832 page report published in 2006 that included chapters on Princess Diana's relationship with Prince Charles, what the paparazzi did in Paris, the cars in the tunnel during the crash, and various conspiracy claims.
As part of the inquiry, Stevens spoke privately with both Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, per The Daily Beast. Prince William was 15 years old when his mother unexpectedly died and Prince Harry was 12. The focus of the conversation for the brothers was "to know what had happened to their mother." Stevens called the hour and a half interview "quite emotional." Prince William and Prince Harry accepted the conclusions he'd come to during the investigation, and that he spent much of their time together answering their questions, per The Daily Beast.
After the multi-year inquiry, Stevens determined "with 100 percent certainty" there was no criminal conspiracy behind Princess Diana's death. Mohamed Al Fayed, father of Dodi Al Fayed who died at the scene in the Paris crash, thinks the report is further conspiracy coverup, per Time.